Various methods and systems are known to the art by means of which a requested connection can select a suitable link from among a number of available links coordinated to form a route in accordance with a particular resource requirement, such as bandwidth, the number of buffer sites required by the requested connection, and like requirements, and in accordance with the extent to which resources have been used at that particular time within the links as a result of the seizure of connections that have already been established.
A comprehensive report of the present standpoint of techniques is found in the publication "Proceeding of the 1989, Singapore International Conference on Communications, paper B5.1, 1989", where "Some Aspects of Link Allocation in an IBCN" by Johan M. Karlsson is described more specifically under section B, "Integrated Broadband Communication Networks (IBCN)".
This publication discusses different aspects of selecting free links within a route in accordance with the bandwidth requirement of a requested connection, so-called link allocation, in an integrated bandwidth communications system, and a number of basic methods, so-called allocation algorithms, are indicated for structuring and allocating requested connections in accordance with their bandwidth requirement, with the intention of preventing excessively high congestion possibilities.
Various signalling systems in which the present invention can be applied are also known to the art.
Within the ATM system (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), the resources required by a connection may be a selected bandwidth and/or a selected number of buffer sites.
Within the Multislot-STM system (Synchronous Transfer Mode), the resources required by a connection are selected bandwidth requirements.
With regard to one proposed application of the present invention, it is known to use for desired signal transmission different transfer modes which provide connections where each connection can seize different resource quantities, such as bandwidth and/or buffer sites, and in a socalled ATM network desired signal transmission is effected with the aid of data cells and with an address indicating part, a so-called "Header" and an information transmitting part, "Payload".